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Clemens Augustinus Emmanuel Joseph Pius Anthonius Hubertus Marie Graf [2] von Galen (16 March 1878 – 22 March 1946), better known as Clemens August Graf von Galen, was a German count, Bishop of Münster, and cardinal of the Catholic Church.
Clemens August von Galen, Bishop of Munster, who spoke out against the "euthanasia" programme in Nazi Germany, was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. [1]During the Second World War, the Roman Catholic Church protested against Aktion T4, the Nazi involuntary euthanasia programme under which 300,000 disabled people were murdered.
Hamerow characterised the resistance approach of senior Catholic clergy like August von Galen of Münster as "trying to influence the Third Reich from within". When in 1936, Nazis removed crucifixes in school, protest by Galen led to public demonstration. Like Presying, he assisted with the drafting of the 1937 papal encyclical. [84]
Bishops Konrad von Preysing and Clemens August Graf von Galen assisted with the drafting of Pope Pius XI's 1937 German encyclical Mit brennender Sorge, which was written partly in response to the Nuremberg Laws. [40] [64] The papal letter condemned racial theories and the mistreatment of people based on race. [64]
Clemens August Graf von Galen, Bishop of Münster, was typical of the many fearless Catholic speakers. In general terms, therefore, the churches were the only major organisations to offer comparatively early and open resistance: they remained so in later years.
Hitler's order for the T4 Euthanasia Program was dated 1 September, the day Germany invaded Poland. As word of the program spread, protest grew, until finally, Bishop August von Galen delivered his famous 1941 sermons denouncing the program as "murder." Thousands of copies of the sermons were circulated across Germany.
Münster bishop Clemens August Graf von Galen was Preysing's cousin. A conservative nationalist, he began criticising Nazi racial policy in a January 1934 sermon. Galen equated unquestioning loyalty to the Reich with "slavery", and opposed Hitler's theory of German purity. [166] With Presying, he helped draft the 1937 papal encyclical. [166]
Mass protests mounted up in Munich condemning the move, and Hitler forced Bormann to rescind the order. [29] July–August 1941 – Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen's sermons denounce lawlessness of Gestapo, confiscations of church properties, and Nazi euthanasia. Government takes program underground. [30] Clergy were drafted into the ...